Labor calls on speaker to step aside

Bronwyn Bishop has been hosting Liberal Party fund-raisers in her Parliament House Speaker's suite, leading to claims her position as impartial adjudicator is ''untenable''.

A spokesman for Ms Bishop said there was nothing illegal or improper about the practice, and no official rules appeared to exist.

But no past speakers interviewed by Fairfax Media had used the office for party fund-raising.

Criticised for using the Speaker's office for party fund-raising events: Bronwyn Bishop. Photo: Andrew Meares

Asked about a recent event held in the suite, Ms Bishop's spokesman said: ''From time to time the Speaker holds private functions in Parliament House [as do] members and senators … the cost is charged to her private account. There is nothing illegal about it, there is nothing improper about it.''

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Recent Labor speakers Anna Burke and Harry Jenkins said they had never used the Speaker's office for party fund-raising events.

''The Speaker's office is representative of the Parliament,'' Ms Burke said. ''The Parliament is not owned by the government of the day, it's owned by the people. And it would be highly inappropriate for the people's house to be used as a fund-raising arm of a political party.''

The House of Representatives clerk would not comment.

Nearly every speaker of the past 50 years has been accused of bias, but Labor MPs have argued Ms Bishop is a special case.

They cite her record of ejecting Labor MPs from the chamber. So far, all 100 ejected MPs have been from the opposition.

Since Parliament began taking records, 90 per cent of punishments had involved opposition members, the Parliamentary Library revealed.

Ms Bishop has also been criticised for continuing to attend partyroom meetings, unlike her Labor predecessors, Ms Burke and Mr Jenkins.

Asked whether the Speaker's impartiality was brought into question by holding the fund-raisers, Ms Bishop's spokesman replied: ''No, not at all. Impartiality is required from her in the chair and that's how she conducts herself.''

Manager of opposition business Tony Burke said if the fund-raising reports were true, Ms Bishop's position as Speaker was ''untenable''.

''The Speaker's office is meant to be owned by the Parliament,'' Mr Burke said.